From the Liveblog of
Monday, October 7, 2024
Smotrich said to urge military rule in Gaza, renewed settlement, as way to rescue hostages
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Amid reports that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has renewed contact with Qatari mediators and has not softened his conditions for a hostage-ceasefire deal, Channel 12 reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a security consultation yesterday that Sinwar will compromise when Israel has dismantled the Iranian “axis of evil.”
The TV report, which relates to a high-level security consultation convened by Netanyahu last night, also cites far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich saying that the only means to achieve a hostage deal and bring home the hostages is to install a military administration and build settlements in Gaza.
Channel 12 also says families of several hostages held in Gaza have been told recently by Israeli defense officials that the conditions in which their loved ones are being held are worsening and that their captors are more “trigger happy.”
Most of the living hostages are now being held in “improvised tunnels,” where it is hard to breathe, without electricity, showers, or toilets, the report says, citing comments by some families who tonight held a demonstration outside the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv. The report does not name the families that conveyed this information.
The families also say they have been told that “additional cages” have been found where hostages “confronted their captors,” the report says.
The Times of Israel Community.